Puritans were terrible people who constantly told other people how righteous and good they were.
I just explained it yesterday, but one of my ancestors was John Billington (and his family). He was the first member of the Plymouth colony to be convicted of murder and executed. His whole family were known as ātrouble makersā and Johnās wife was put in the stocks and whipped for ātalking backā. When I first found out about them, I thought, āOh no!ā Then I read their storyā¦.now I think Iām on their side.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Billington?wprov=sfti1#
Iād like to visit myself. Iād probably climb up there and give her a big hug and tell her everything worked out Great Great Great Great Great Great Grandmother š„°
There's some kind of family connection with Frida Kahlo, but it was one of those skeletons in the closet that adults wouldn't talk about to their children.
For context, my mother was born in 1920, in Mexico City, and she remembers visiting the home of Frida Kahlo's parents when she was a teenager, along with some of her aunts. The specific connection was never acknowledged, but there's a shared family resemblance. Photos of my mother in her early 20s, with her dark eyes and unibrow, are uncannily similar to Frida.
Im a white American with a fairly substantial % of Dutch ancestry. Ā When I was building out my tree a couple years ago, I was delighted to learn that the Dutch are pretty diligent about documenting family relationships. Ā I found the artist Vermeer on mine, a bunch of generations back.
More recently, one of my great great grandfathers invented the wire coat hanger.
My Lebanese great grandparents migrated from Lebanon to Argentina around 1910. I kept hearing from my grandmother and other relatives that our ancestors were 'princes' but I always thought it was bs. A few years ago I took the AncestryDNA test and I got a lot of matches with the last name 'Chehab' so I decided to look it up and it turns out the Chehab family ruled the Emirate of Mount Lebanon for 6 generations. My grandma wasn't lying after all.
i want to take a dna test for a similar reason.. my familyās last name is known to be a name for those who descend from the caliph ali ibn abi talib (there is even a memoir made about it online) but i canāt seem wrap my head around it
Fiance's 8th great grandfather was Samuel Wardwell In September of 1692, Samuel Wardwell was arrested on charges of witchcraft and imprisoned in Salem town. Itās not known who accused Wardwell or what circumstances led to his arrest because the original arrest warrant is missing from the Salem records.
Not only was Samuel Wardwell accused but so was his wife, Sarah, his daughter, Mercy, and his daughter-in-law, Sarah Hawkes Jr.
He confessed, then recanted, went to trial, was found guilty and executed.
One of my ancestors sailed with Blackbeard. I see your witch and raise you a pirate.
Empress Dowager Cixi was one of the downfalls of the Xing Dynasty and my great-grandfatherās cousin. Upon the fall of the Xing Dynasty they were rounding up members of the royal family for slaughter and my great-grandfather fled to Japan to escape persecution. Nobody knows if he made it as no one saw him again. During the Cultural Revolution all of the things we were personally gifted by the royal family were destroyed.
My 2x great uncleās and cousins shot up a courthouse in 1912. They were front page news across the country until the Titanic sank. One of the uncles and one cousin were killed in the electric chair.
My 2x great grandfather Jack did not go to court that day. My 2x grandmother Catie put something in his breakfast to keep him in the outhouse most of the day.
[https://youtu.be/lVJCC2CWevQ?si=Vgi6Gyqp0-qZ8A31](https://youtu.be/lVJCC2CWevQ?si=Vgi6Gyqp0-qZ8A31)
George H. W. Bush was my 6th cousin once removed and his son George W. is my 7th cousin. Regardless of politics, itās pretty cool having two former presidents in your family tree!
9th great grandfather Gov. Jeremiah Clarke (cofounder of Newport, RI), his son Weston Clarke, his daughter Mary Clarke married Gov. John Cranston. And a few more down the line.
Jeremiahās (aka Jeremy) wife is Frances Latham (coined āthe mother of Governors). Her father was the falconer for King Charles I.
One of my 5x great grandpas on my grandmaās side was Dr William Todd. He suspected a smallpox outbreak, and instead of waiting for the green light, he hauled ass and inoculated everyone he could, and taught the Natives how to do it as well. The Blackfoot were not as trusting, and many did not survive. The Cree on the other hand, thrived.
āToddās decisive action made him a respected medicine man among the indigenous population. It has even been suggested that he was the most famous doctor in the Canadian North-West at the time.ā
Hereās a link about him [https://thestarphoenix.com/opinion/columnists/history-matters-dr-william-todd-met-smallpox-epidemic-with-vaccination-initiative-but-never-officially-credited](https://thestarphoenix.com/opinion/columnists/history-matters-dr-william-todd-met-smallpox-epidemic-with-vaccination-initiative-but-never-officially-credited)
And from my grandpaās side, I get my surname from Colin Fraser, who was a personal bagpiper to the HBC Governor, Sir George Simpson.
Kinda weird to bring your own personal bagpiper, but rich people are weird, and I aināt knocking it, stringing him along got us here š A set of his bagpipes are in a museum in Edmonton.
James Madison is my second cousin 8x removed. Thomas Jefferson is my 3rd cousin 8x removed. Iām also a direct descendant of Daniel Booneās eldest sister.
Recently I found out my ancestry lines up perfectly with Chuck Zito, a former leader of Hells Angels. A biker gang that made and distributed illegal drugs, especially methamphetamine.
Heās not a direct relative, and heās far more Italian than me, but I believe he is a distant relative.
He not only was in Hells Angels, but he is also martial arts expert. He plead guilty to one felony drug count and was sentenced to 10 years, which was ultimately changed to 6. After he got out he got into an acting career and won 3 awards and received 4 nominations.
I found him verified on Instagram, and decided to message him, and tell him all about the research I did which led me to this point. Which he simply responded with:0 āššā and thatās it.
Recently a movie about him came out this year, and itās a documentary about him. Iām going to watch it soon and see what else I can learn about him.
Edit: I also found this out much later (while watching a serial killer documentary) around the time Chuck was in charge, him and other hells angel members would have parties at a pig farmers farm in Canada. This pig farmer is known as āThe Pig Farmerā (Robert Pickton) who actually just passed away not even a month ago.
Thatās really cool. My motherās whole side were Pagans. They were big here on Long Island and my uncles were local tough guys. My family has a pretty cool history in the town I live in, streets named offer them, etc. there was 4 of them originally, all of them my grandmas brothers. Really cool guys but 2 of them did time for murder. Itās really funny I found this comment bc the pagans and hells angels were rival gangs.
First to come to mind is Christopher Newport who was in command of the ships that carried the future settlers/creators of Jamestown. Saw a lot of combat as a privateer and lost his arm while boarding a Spanish Galleon and is said to have raided the Spanish mainland more times than Sir Francis Drake
Someone living, so I won't give their name. But the very cool thing is that they co-wrote a couple of songs from the 60s/70s, and like 3 of the songs he co-wrote are songs I actually really enjoy and have on my phone and listen to a lot. I just found it really funny because who would have thought that someone I'm related to would've co-wrote some of the songs I listen to and enjoy.
One guy got killed by a brick to the head in a drunk brawl with a neighbor. The neighbor fled but was eventually found in southern Illinois and sentenced to all of two years in jail, which was probably a lot in the 1880s.
I have a bunch actually š„°
Alexander Kennedy Isbister, a great great uncle, is the one I'm probably the most proud of:
https://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/people/isbister_ak.shtml
The University of Manitoba still has his scholarship for people to study regardless of race, creed, religion or gender which was started in 1885 š
We're also descendants of Sinclair. So like Roslynn Chapel, Templar Knights, Kings of England and vikings and stuff which is pretty cool. My great great grandfather Henry Sinclair allegedly hid the "Holy Grail" in Nova Scotia or something. Some conspiracy theorists believe we even carry the blood line of Jesus š (thanks DaVinci Code) š¤¦āāļø
One of my great great grandfathers was James Isbister and he was head of the Scottish Metis and set up Isbister Settlement (now called Prince Albert) for the community. They dedicated a plaque to him in 2022:
https://parks.canada.ca/culture/designation/personnage-person/james-isbister
There's some other that did some allegedly great stuff; but these are the most interesting imo.
Same, and its something controversial because some Mexicans may have wanted some of your family un-alived if they posed a political threat.
Aside from that Pancho was a badass lol My dad idolized him and didnāt know until recently he was our great/ great uncle.
Thatās pretty awesome! I honestly wish I knew more about my father and his family. The cousins who found me wouldnāt tell me much about him. Iām going to buy a MyHeritage kit tomorrow, I want to see who else shows up. Iāve already found an older half-brother on 23/Me. šš½
Letās see what other half sibs my father decided to give me while gallivanting all over the country..lol
My grandmother on my moms side paid someone to do the ancestry thing before the DNA. I guess they have proof that we are related to Ann Boleyn, but she also told me we were Cherokee, and well that was a lie. (We have her grandma being born on the reservation in Oklahoma, but nothing after that.) But I do know that we are related to Ma Barker, and we come from a Clan in Scotland that went to Ireland. My husband is related to George Donner of the Donner party. It was from a child from his first marriage.
Fyi, if youāre Cherokee, it might not show up in your admixture (if itās too diluted). BUT, you can look for your ancestors on the Dawes Rolls. If they are listed, and you can prove, via documentation, your link to said ancestors, you are most likely eligible for tribal membership. Good luck!
Pierre Couchon - A French bishop whose claim to fame is sentencing St. Joan of Arc to death. Heās my 14th great grandfatherās nephew (verified). Heās been portrayed in a lot of movies/plays about Joan of Arc so thatās kind of cool I guess.
My earliest American settler ancestor fled his Danish island after it was destroyed in a hurricane, came to New Sweden, and became a criminal. He sold a pig that wasnāt his, land that wasnāt his, and his wife. The court had some part of his face cut off (nose? Ears? I forget) and he was exiled to New Jersey.
probably my 4th great grandfather. he was a captain of many ships in Hawaiāi and was indigenous hawaiian himself and he was a whaler who would go all the way to alaska and south to australia catching whales
My 4th great grandfather, Traverse Pinn, invented the file folder and actually had a patent for it. He was a free black man in Virginia and even held a few political offices. He was murdered in 1888 at 47.
Source: https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/traverse-benjamin-pinn-sr-1840-1888/
[Claudio Arrau](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudio_Arrau) is my first cousin, 4th removed. [Johannes Tauler ](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Tauler) is like a great uncle to the Ć-power. Both men are on my dad's side, which also includes Isabel Allende, and if my math is correct, Pedro Pascal.
Daniel Boone and his sister (Hannah Boone) who is my 6x great grandmother from her daughter Sarah Stewart.. Fun fact: my mom's prior co-worker she is good friends with: a direct lineage from Daniel..
I descend from his Aunt Mary, sister to Squire Boone. Supposedly, my ancestor James, her son, was friends with Daniel, and they both traveled together.
My grandmother was born in America. Her parent immigrated from England. Her dad, my GG grandfather died when she was young, I have a pic of my Ggrandfather with the handlebar mustache bigger than a millennial Brooklyn hipster! He as an economist. Family story was that his first wife was mentally ill, so he wasnāt allowed to divorce her due to the laws at the time. My two great aunts, and perhaps my great uncle were born in France, even though they lived in Englandā¦ for some reason?
Through ancestry I found a cousin on my G grandmotherās side, and also some relatives of G grandfatherās first wife. According to her, first wife was not mentally illā¦ and I searched mental hospital roles and found nothing. G Grandfather was listed in the census twice: in two homes in the same year.. first wife and her kids, and my G grandmother and her kids! And the census record was written in the same handwriting.
From other records we can see that when GGrandfather and ggrandmother came to America in the 19teens or 20s with their three kids. They were listed as married. A few years later, my grandmother was born. A few years after that, first wife died. Shortly after, GGrandfather and GGrandmother got married āfor real.ā My English cousin shared some family photos including a picture of an unknown teenager on the beach in Coney Island in the 1920s. I want to believe that was one of the kids from his first marriage, and that she made it over after her mom died. My grandmother and her siblings are dead now, and my dad doesnāt recall any details.
My grandmother was rather stuffy and more judgmental than any of the other old ladies on either side of my family. Itās kind of funny that her parents had the most salacious story of anyoneā¦ or maybe it just seems that way because it took about a hundred years to uncover.
My great grandma and her younger sister were both born in the US after their family immigrated from Wales. All the older siblings, born in Wales, were 5'8" or shorter, but these two women were 6'2" and 6'1". The ongoing joke was that there was something in the water here. My great grandfather was 5'6" and absolutely refused to stand on a crate for photos with her. "Are you saying I'm short?!" Hilariously, her surname means "shorty" in English.
We actually have a lot of really tall people in my family, though usually men, so they didn't stand out as much as you'd think. The older siblings were the anomalies, probably due to lack of nutrition during childhood that my great grandma and her younger sister didn't suffer. They were teenagers when they immigrated, or adults who stayed in Wales.
My ancestors came over on the Mayflower but were NOT puritans. The father signed the Mayflower Compact.
A few years later he was the first person in the Colonies to get the death penalty.
I have no proof but I suspect he was framed.
Well, Iām Jewish. So I donāt really know anything about my family past my great grandparents. What with everyone being murdered and all the records destroyed.
My 13th great-grandfather Edward Waldegrave was some courtier and knight in England. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London twice for practicing Catholicism and apparently there was a ban or something like that for it. The first time he was imprisoned by King Henry the sixth or eighth, and then a second time by Queen Elizabeth. He died in the tower. Heās the only person I can think of in my family tree right now.
William Brewster, one of the Mayflower passengers, was my 11th Great Grandfather.
Also nearly certain to have Thomas Dudley, former governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and member of the first board of overseers at Harvard. Still need to do further research to finally confirm.
My lines are all boring doctors and ministers and such. No exciting pirates or witches.
[Jean Baptiste Baudreau II Dit Graveline](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Baptiste_Baudreau_II) was my 7th great grandfather. He was half Native American and was an important liaison between the French colonists and the native people already living in Mississippi and Louisiana. He ran into some trouble with the law and was wrongfully executed via breaking wheel, one of only two (I believe) people executed this way in the US. French officials then threw his body into the Gulf of Mexico. Many of his descendants fought to have a historical marker placed upon his place of death just a year or two ago in New Orleans.
Hanna Mansour is my 3x great-grandfather. He was the first elected mayor of Bethlehem, Palestine from 1896-1907 then again from 1911-1915.
Ā
You can find out more about him and our family home in Bethlehem where my great-grandmother grew up (Mansour House) here:Ā
https://bethlehem.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Bethlehem-Heritage-Route_compressed.pdf
I tend to appreciate the people that have given me a chance to learn more about history as I learn about them and the people they lived alongside.
My list would include:
Philipp Melanchthon - a line descending from his sister intertwines over several generations with families in my Tree.
Direct ancestor - probably Heinrich Schwebel. The son of a clergyman involved in the Reformation, while he was Kanzler and an influential advisor in the Duchy of ZweibrĆ¼cken his 'boss' John I, Count Palatine and Duke of Palatinate-ZweibrĆ¼cken, was the first ruler in the world (1592) to mandate compulsory primary education for *both* boys and girls. From what I have learned I like to think Heinrich and his wife Margaretha had a bit to do with that progressive move.
Also was fun to learn about:
The Patrick family of Traben-Trarbach and Bad Kreuznach because it was so interesting to find Scots there in the 1500s.
And a distant 13GG Katharina von Hosingen is on my favourites list as she has a funeral plaque that has survived (with restoration) since her death in 1577.
https://www.inschriften.net/rhein-hunsrueck-kreis-ii/inschrift/nr/di079-0101.html
Most of the rest of the tree were farmers, teachers, clergy, innkeepers, bakers or brewers.
Philipp Melanchthon married my 11th great aunt, Katharina Krapp.
Her father, Hieronymus Krapp (best name I've found in my tree so far), was the Mayor of Wittenburg.
Her sister, Anna Barbara Krapp, was married to Augustin Schurff, who was Martin Luther's doctor.
Augustin's brother Hieronymus (Jerome) Schurff, was Martin Luther's lawyer. He accompanied Luther to the Diet of Worms.
Augustin's daughter Magdalena married the German Renaissance painter Lucas Cranach the Younger, who painted Philipp Melanchthon posthumously, in 1562. His father, Lucas Cranach the Elder, painted Melanchthon in 1543 and Martin Luther a few times.
Their daughter, Elisabeth, married Polykarp Leyser the Younger.
One of their great grandchildren married a descendant of Martin Luther.
Such an interesting knot of people.
It's a fascinating time period to study. I've always thought you could definitely tell what the Cranachs thought about someone's position on the issues of the time by looking at how they depicted the person.
The Reformation is full of strong personalities, social justice issues and religious upheaval.
I guess things haven't changef that much. As a species we are not very good at transmitting lessons learned down through the generations.
My great grandmother ran off from her husband and went to Alaska during the gold rush and opened a āboarding house ā. The at one point she was a camp cook for when they were putting in the railroad. She would take her dog sled ahead of the workers and make camp where they would be stopping for the night and have camp set up and dinner ready when the workers got there.
I have a photo of her somewhere. She was only 4ā11ā and sheās wearing a hat as wide as she is tall.
Iām distantly related to Franklin Pierce, considered by scholars as one of the worst presidents in US history, that helped contribute to the start of the Civil War.
My ancestors are the Vikings that ruled the Orkney Islands for a few hundred years. Thereās a saga written about them that I just got and am very excited to read.
Another branch are the Normans, which include people like William Longsword, a few knights, some Welsh kings that constantly fought each other (I want to visit the ruins of their castle one day), and the Earls of Sussex. My family lost out on that title because weāre descended through a younger daughter who got married and peaced out to America when Jamestown was first settled.
Also Martin Luther.
My momās family alas has basically nothing since a lot of Slovakia was wrecked in WW2, so I may have nifty Slavic ancestors I just havenāt figured out yet.
The one I know I'm related to was my Great Grandfather he fought in WW2 and in some of the bloodiest battles against the Japanese Empire The Battle Of GuandalCanal And Solomon Islands I only know this since I found his military card after the war ended and also he married 2 women one that's my great grandma and one that's not mine but I've been able to trace down my Step Great Grandma's ancestry to at late as the 1400s.
One of my ancestors William Harris was the arch enemy of Roger Williams . He even shows up in his journal !
āW. Harris, who, being an impudent morris-dancer in Kent... under a cloak of separation, got in with myself, till his self-ends and restless strife, and at last his atheistical denying of heaven and hell, made honest souls to fly from him. Now he courts the Baptists: then he kicks them off and flatters the Foxians [Quakers]; then the drunkards (which he calls all that are not of the former two amongst us); then knowing the prejudices of the other Colonies against us, he dares to abuse his Majesty and Council, to bring New England upon us.ā
Nothing I love more than bitchy diary entries/letters from the 17th and 18th centuries. Good reminder that while the things people complain about have changed, as a people we haven't changed *all* that much.
My 9th great grandfather was Gov. Jeremiah Clarke, a colonial era president of Rhode Island (and the Providence Plantations) and cofounder of Newport. I wonder if they knew each other.
Welp. 12 of the 19 people hung in Salem are grandparents and 1st cousins. King Robert the Bruce, my grandfather, over 20 times. A few other ancient Scottish royals and my grandfather William. He wasnāt famous. He was just a great guy.
Ancestry stuff is so fun!
Honora Mary OāFlynn, 1600ās
Irish chieftainās daughter, so she was basically a princess. Kidnapped as a teen or possibly spoils of war and brought to Baltimore, Maryland. Sold to a tobacco farmer who she eventually married.
Rodrigo de Bastidas. Pretty interesting since he died from his men killing him due to his excessive greed and unfairness, which is surprisingly still an attribute of a lot of my family members on that side: greed.
For the moment, it's a close tie between Louis Poulin and Sieur Philippe Muis-D'Entremont. They aren't related but they sure are giving me some headaches. Louis Poulin was a popular name when he lived, there are 20 of them in the territory I'm looking at in a 40 year span. The lack of records is infuriating. And Philippe is probably not of noble blood and doesn't have the lineage that is commonly know, but I need more people in France to test to be certain of anything.
My wife has one of those Maritime families that can trace their line back to the Mayflower, which sheās very proud of. That means i can remind her sheās a relative of this guy.
https://www.executedtoday.com/2009/10/18/1672-thomas-rood-incest-execution-america/
I hasten to add sheās a descendent of old Tomās other kids, but still - a little too close for comfort.
Probably my melungeon 5th great grandfather that married my white 5th great grandmother and poisoned her. His sister was actually the one that got him caught. He was placed in jail, 200 people stormed the jail and drug him out, and hung him on an oak tree. Apparently he was very attractive with darker skin and green eyes and slept with multiple married women. He offered his sister $10 to poison his wife but she refused, so he did it and his sister ratted him out.
My great grandpa was kidnapped during the Mexican revolution. Eventually he had to walk from Baja California back home to southeast Mexico with nothing but the clothes on his back.
He had to survive walking through the desert for months with no map. Quicksand, snakes, animals, dehydration, hypo/hyperthermia. His buddy that he journeyed with died before they could make it. Pretty interesting dude given the horrible circumstances. Itās crazy to think if he hadnāt made it, my siblings and I would not exist.
I have William Bradford, Richard Warren, and Roger Williams on ny dad's side, but one if the most fascinating people is Thomas Cresap on my mom's side, and most people don't know him.
Thomas Cresap had a war named after him, and is the reason Maryland and Pennsylvania's border is where it is (Mason and Dixon surveyed it after the incident). Was he a good man? Absolutely Not. But his life is super fascinating. He was friends with George Wasgington, but they had a falling out later in life. He was important in both the French and Indian War, and the American Revolution, but for some reason, he's been forgotten (though again, he was not a nice person). His wife was fascinating too.
My grandpa was involved in politics in south Texas. LBJ went to their house a few times, and he was like a small town godfather. When he splintered from the big political boss and took guys with him, he was whacked.
My great great great great great grandparents were a frontiersman named [William Whitley](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Whitley) and his wife [Esther Whitley.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esther_Whitley)
He is the reason why horse racing is so big in Kentucky. Heās also the reason why in America, horses race counter clockwise and on clay/dirt. He was the son of Scottish immigrants from Ireland, so he despised the British and didnāt want his horses running clockwise or on turf like the English do. His wife was also a sharpshooter, and the 3rd woman of European descent to cross the Cumberland Mountains. They were good friends with Daniel Boone and George Rodgers Clark, both of whom stayed at their house often.
Their house was also the first brick house in Kentucky and one of the first brick houses past the Appalachians. He also had a horse racing track there, called Sportsmanās Hill, that was the first horse racing track west of the Appalachian Mountains. Itās a state park now, so anyone can visit their land, house, and racing track now.
However they werenāt perfect, he hated Native Americans and is one of the people who possibly killed [Tecumseh](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tecumseh) during the War of 1812. He died during the same war, at the [Battle of the Thames](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Thames)
[William Whitley House State Historic Site](https://stateparks.com/william_whitley_house_state_historic_site_in_kentucky.html)
Hereās another interesting [article](https://www.wkyt.com/content/news/How-a-200-year-old-house-birthed-horseracing-in-the-Bluegrass-509443151.html) about their house and its importance to horse racing.
Henry James Metcalfe. My 3rd great grandfather. He was a bandmaster, composer and publisher of music for Brass band.
He served in Ireland in a Depot Battalion of the 3rd Regiment of Foot, and was the bandmaster of its Bugle, Fife and Drum band.
After he left the army he founded a brass band and began writing music for it.
Around 1878 he published a house journal called 'Metcalfe's Musical Express'
He claimed to have been the first composer of dance music for brass bands, like quadrilles and waltzes!
Sir John De Graham aka William Wallace his Right hand man, Saved him multiple times, hes my Great Great Great Great and so on Grandfather, confirmed Ancestor
Two brothers of my great grandma were āpartisanā fighters in Lithuaniaās guerrilla war against the Soviet Union after occupation of the country in the 1940s.
The partisans hoped that by guerrilla tactics theyād be able to drive the USSR out of Lithuania eventually, despite limited international support and their small numbers relative to the Soviet Army.
That never happened of course, but I just find it unique and inspiring that some of my ancestors were involved in this effort.
My great grandfather lead a kamikaze attack that sank the USS Lexington in WW2, and then he perished out at sea as he was aiding other planes that were lost but ran out of fuel himself along the return flight
George Washington and I share the same grandfather. Well, his grandfather and my 11x great grandfather. Then there is a direct line to the Queen Mother, through her father, Claude Bowes-Lyon, on my maternal side. My fraternal side, my 3x great grandmother's brother is Cullen Montgomery Baker, a serial killer after the civil war and Louis L'Amour based his main character on Baker in his book The First Fast Draw. Ā My great Uncle (grandmother's brother) has a Marine Training Center named for him and he was a hero in the battle of Iwo Jima.
My 3rd cousin 4x removed was Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin.
He invented the Zeppelin airship.
[Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin ](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_von_Zeppelin
)
I've figured out my relationship to the European royal families, but he's my closest relative that people would have heard of.
I'm also related to the Red Baron.
And I'm afraid of heights.
I have three..John and Joan Carrington, hanged for being witches in Hartford Connecticut, before Salem witch trials ever started. Then Captain Benjamin Merrill, regulator, first person executed by the British just before the Revolutionary war . Being a historian and DNA researcher has been very interesting.
None of mine are Inrreting bc half my family never really left England and the other half of my family are Romani so itās hard to find any documents or birth certificate of them
I have two interesting ancestors who stuck out to me.
Matthew Henson is my ancestor. He was an American Explorer. He's known for being a Black American who may have made it to the North Pole. I know for a fact that I am related to him. My grandmother would tell me about him. We also see some Henson at family reunions.
My other interesting ancestor is Josiah Henson. He was known for being an author, preacher, and abolitionist. Some people might know of Uncle Tom. Well, that's what he was labeled as...
If you are interested in more information about my ancestors, we have their stories exhibited at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum in Baltimore, MD. You should stop by if you are interested in Baltimore History of ADOS. It's a really nice museum.
Really just my grandpa and great-grandfather. My grandfather played professional baseball, fought in the Korean War and did a few other things as well. My great-grandfather played in the MLB and also played against Babe Ruth, and also has the record for being I believe the only baseball player to be born in the 19th century, live through the 20th, and die in the 21st century š
Thomas Vergne Swanson - Grandpa
Karl Edward Swanson - Great-Grandfather
:D
My 6th great-grandfather was Joseph Broussard dit Beausoleil, an Acadian folk hero and militiaman that fought against the British during the Seven Years War/French-Indian War, and then later led the first large wave of Acadian/Cajun migration to southwest Louisiana. Tho, tbf, A LOT of people in southwest Louisiana/southeast Texas also descend from him, so I'm not really unique in this regard, but still pretty cool, imo. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph\_Broussard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Broussard)
I found out Beyonceās niece is a distant cousin of mine from my matches. A few ppl with last names from Beyonceās maternal side showed up as 4th cousins. Thought it was a little crazy š
35th great grandfather is Rollo, the first Duke of Normandy, if I researched my tree well enough. I'm always skeptical when I'm able to get back so far.
Iām related to six of histories most influential people. Yes documented. Proven. Took a decade of research etc my mom and aunt have been doing since getting our results. We went back on my Momās side, one line.
I think Anne Boleyn is probably the most interesting of mine. ( not a direct descendent but related - royalty was really incestuous)
But the one story Iām pretty proud of is .. one of my direct ancestors - was a Queen and her husband was out fighting some warā¦ and their country was attacked, probably from them thinking they were weak with the king gone-
So she had them make her a suit of armor at 7 months pregnant and gathered up her armies and went into battle.
She won.
She brought back the enemy kingās head and gave it to her husband/ king.
( it did happen according to our research although there is some debate about this. The suit of armor did happen. She did go. We just donāt know if she actually ever stepped foot on the battlefield )
I have so many I can't pick one. My closest is my ggf. A TV series was made on him. I have no clue how many wives and kids he had. I met a 'cousin' once. My gf, his last child, was an only with his much much younger wife. š¤·š¼āāļø
My great great grandfatherās second cousin was a Mexican president, so I think thatās pretty interesting. As for a direct ancestor, my great great grandfather was also a Mexican revolutionary and led a regiment or something along those lines, then he went on to own a grocery store in Texas
Former ufc fighter and k1 champion Mark Hunt is a possible distant cousin of mine as I have a lot of matches of people who are part of his family(all bearing the last name Hunt)
- My grandma told me her father worked with Pancho Villa during the war in Jalisco.
- Iām a descendent of Hernan Cortes. š¬
- the person who created colored tv is my 10th cousin , one removed . According to FamilyTree.com
I uploaded my results to a few databases from ancient burials.
It was the dna match with the only known remaining bone in America from the Clovis people that I found most interesting. I grew up believing I was Irish Italian with some Romani Gypsy. My dna results pretty much matched up with nearly every major ethnicity on the planet. So I guess most recently on one side Iām Gypsy and on the other it was German/scottish/English descended from Vikings.
My great x something grandfather has a university named after him(his estate donated 25k to the school when he died), founded a polytechnic institute, and was a co-proprietor of the worldās largest wire mill company. He lived from 1798-1868.
It took so much digging to find this out because thereās been multiple closed adoptions throughout my recent lineage and getting the original birth certificates/people to talk is not easy.
I'm actually related to these people
Dick Turpin https://www.sworder.co.uk/auction/details/a1131-dick-turpin--the-legend-lives-on/?au=1147&pn=3&g=1
Rita Webb
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rita_Webb
It says Lionel Stanley Thompson, they married other people, but legally divorced.
She's my 4x great Nanny (Emma - also related to Martha & Thomas)
https://archive.lib.msu.edu/AFS/dmc/ssb/public/all/springfieldcottage/scot.html
This post is mainly for UK people or anyone interested.
One more we built things. As my Mum says, we built psychiatric hospitals & put our own in them
I have a bunch of them but this oneās my favorite: A Canadian 9th great grandmother, Marie Francoise Du Verger, born in 1636, was a ādaughter of the kingā, and incidentally a muderess. It was a long story, but there was no official executioner appointed in Quebec at that time, so she and her partner in crime āwere found guilty, keel-hauled on a ship in Quebec harbor, and their quartered bodies thrown in the river". The next guy to be executed was asked if he would prefer to be the official executioner and he agreed
Jabez Faux, my first cousin four times removed. Converted to Mormonism in the 1850s, left Yorkshire and travelled to Utah as part of the Ninth Handcart Company.
-My direct ancestor x11 grandpa was Richard Warren (mayflower passenger/signer of the mayflower compact)
-John black my x10 great grandpa fought for the continental army in the revolutionary war
-Joseph Martin brigadier general in the continental army is my 1st cousin x9 removed
-Benjamin and William Harrison (both presidents) Iām cousins through
- William Anne Holles Capell is my x8 great grandpa and the 4th earl of Essex
Some Frenchman who lived in Haiti allegedly but when the revolution happened, fled to Puerto Rico. There's a bunch of ppl with our last name there. He or a relative traveled to the Gulf Coast and here I am.
My research into him led me to find a network of people of color manumitting slaves themselves and promising them training in the trades.
Fascinating to me.
I normally brush off the StoryScout, but when it had him, I wanted to see if I could trace him, and sure enough, I was. He's just a grandfather of a grandmother of a grandfather and so-forth, but it's still pretty cool.
Edward Maria Wingfield, the 1st president of the Jamestown Colony, is my 12th great Uncle. He evidently wasnāt well-liked by the other colonists and was sent back to England on trumped up charges of Atheism.
William de Mohun... He came over to England in 1066 with William the Conqueror. He was one of William the Conquerors Chief generals and was deeded lands out in Devon. Part of the original Castle still remains.
During Civil Wars one of his descendants saved Taunton from being overrun by the Royalists and held on through a nine month Siege until Thos Cranmer could together enough spares to send a battalion or whatever down there to kick back the Royalists.
Garner state park(central tx) is named after my momās maiden name side, who settled Texas originally, (for yt ppl) my great (great) grandad (grandads grandad?) fought with Davy Crockett at the Alamo, had grown up with their family in Tennessee before the migration to Texas - apparently they were so close after he died (KIA@the Alamo) he named his son- my grandads dad- James Crockett Garner.
Also there is some confusion as to how a particular table came to be in our family- my grandfathers oldest brother was general pattons driver in France, when they got into the car accident that resulted in him dying. Directly after the car accident my great uncle took gen Patton to his mistresses home, where she performed surgery on his broken leg, ultimately causing a blood clot which killed him. š
We still have that table she did the surgery on. Itās a Louis the 18th table and most of the kids ate breakfast on it for YEARS. I have no idea at what point it changed hands and got brought to the states but itās been here as long as Iāve been around. (Damn near 40 years)
mothers side, my great great uncle was an MP who died in WWII, dads side my grandmas cousin is the current president of st kitts and nevis. on top of that im also related to mel b from the spice girls :)
Not mine and not a direct ancestor, but my wife's 3rd great grandfather's brother was, for a time during and after reconstruction, the most hated man in southern Missouri.
Anthony Dix (or Dike, as it's been passed down in my family), a passenger named on the "Anne," which came to the Plymouth Colony three years after the Mayflower. He was the captain of the second ocean-going, non-fishing vessel built in what became the US, the "Blessing of the Bay." At one point he was captured by a pirate called Dixie Bull and managed to escape. He died a few years later after the ship went down in a storm off of Cape Cod.
Of course, when your relationship to someone is through the male line, going back several centuries, you never can be truly sure they're actually your ancestor. š
I have a broken tree branch so possible they arenāt a direct relative but my last name picks up in Colonial America with some known counterfeiters. They are small characters listed in a gang called the Dover Money Club. My last name is fairly unique and wonder if this persons professional ambitions is a root cause of the gap in my tree
-also not super famous in the big world but in central Florida History, I am related to Sherif David Mizell who was murdered in some kind of Cattle/ land Dispute.
His house sits on a park here in central Florida and you can visit it while touring the gardens.
He is my 1st cousin 5 times removed so we were never close lol.
My 11x great grandfather is William Pynchon the founder of Springfield Massachusetts and his son in law my 10x great grandfather was Elizur Holyoke who climbed and named Mt Holyoke outside of Springfield
reading all these make mine seem like nothing š my third great-grandfather invented some type of oil lamp in the late 20's
Thats cool!
That's not nothing And regardless, everyone is someone special !
Mary Dyer.. She was hanged by the Puritans for being a Quaker and thereās a statue of her in Boston
Jesus, what kind of complete jerk do you have to be to hate a Quaker?
"She was too nice; it made the rest of us look bad."
Uppity female needed to be taught a lesson before they all started acting up.
Yup, That sums up the Puritans
Puritans were terrible people who constantly told other people how righteous and good they were. I just explained it yesterday, but one of my ancestors was John Billington (and his family). He was the first member of the Plymouth colony to be convicted of murder and executed. His whole family were known as ātrouble makersā and Johnās wife was put in the stocks and whipped for ātalking backā. When I first found out about them, I thought, āOh no!ā Then I read their storyā¦.now I think Iām on their side. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Billington?wprov=sfti1#
And she has a great episode of Drunk History where sheās played by Winona Ryder!
in my research iāve stumbled upon many a dyer, some MA/ME but most in new brunswick. Do you think this is the same family?
Hard to say without building a tree, she was somehow related to the Queen,I donāt think it worked out the way they expected.
My whole paternal family was Quaker and they married from within the church. So if your family was Quaker then itās probably the same line.
I remember that story when i visited Boston.
Iād like to visit myself. Iād probably climb up there and give her a big hug and tell her everything worked out Great Great Great Great Great Great Grandmother š„°
There's some kind of family connection with Frida Kahlo, but it was one of those skeletons in the closet that adults wouldn't talk about to their children. For context, my mother was born in 1920, in Mexico City, and she remembers visiting the home of Frida Kahlo's parents when she was a teenager, along with some of her aunts. The specific connection was never acknowledged, but there's a shared family resemblance. Photos of my mother in her early 20s, with her dark eyes and unibrow, are uncannily similar to Frida.
Oh wow that's super cool!
Im a white American with a fairly substantial % of Dutch ancestry. Ā When I was building out my tree a couple years ago, I was delighted to learn that the Dutch are pretty diligent about documenting family relationships. Ā I found the artist Vermeer on mine, a bunch of generations back. More recently, one of my great great grandfathers invented the wire coat hanger.
My Lebanese great grandparents migrated from Lebanon to Argentina around 1910. I kept hearing from my grandmother and other relatives that our ancestors were 'princes' but I always thought it was bs. A few years ago I took the AncestryDNA test and I got a lot of matches with the last name 'Chehab' so I decided to look it up and it turns out the Chehab family ruled the Emirate of Mount Lebanon for 6 generations. My grandma wasn't lying after all.
I love when ancestry actually proves a family story right!
i want to take a dna test for a similar reason.. my familyās last name is known to be a name for those who descend from the caliph ali ibn abi talib (there is even a memoir made about it online) but i canāt seem wrap my head around it
Fiance's 8th great grandfather was Samuel Wardwell In September of 1692, Samuel Wardwell was arrested on charges of witchcraft and imprisoned in Salem town. Itās not known who accused Wardwell or what circumstances led to his arrest because the original arrest warrant is missing from the Salem records. Not only was Samuel Wardwell accused but so was his wife, Sarah, his daughter, Mercy, and his daughter-in-law, Sarah Hawkes Jr. He confessed, then recanted, went to trial, was found guilty and executed. One of my ancestors sailed with Blackbeard. I see your witch and raise you a pirate.
I canāt help but think back to that one pirates of the Caribbean movie āTHERES A WITCH AND A PIRATE IN MY SHOP!ā
Edgar Allen Poe, supposedly 6x removed 1āst Cousin, via Ancestry.. Whether itās accurate I donāt know, ever more!
https://preview.redd.it/ruei5bsgit9d1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=574f8b1488d36fba97cc5234c362be7e1e796b96
Now that's cool!
Empress Dowager Cixi was one of the downfalls of the Xing Dynasty and my great-grandfatherās cousin. Upon the fall of the Xing Dynasty they were rounding up members of the royal family for slaughter and my great-grandfather fled to Japan to escape persecution. Nobody knows if he made it as no one saw him again. During the Cultural Revolution all of the things we were personally gifted by the royal family were destroyed.
Imperial Woman by Pearl S Buck is a great book about her.
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Thats still pretty cool!
My 2x great uncleās and cousins shot up a courthouse in 1912. They were front page news across the country until the Titanic sank. One of the uncles and one cousin were killed in the electric chair. My 2x great grandfather Jack did not go to court that day. My 2x grandmother Catie put something in his breakfast to keep him in the outhouse most of the day. [https://youtu.be/lVJCC2CWevQ?si=Vgi6Gyqp0-qZ8A31](https://youtu.be/lVJCC2CWevQ?si=Vgi6Gyqp0-qZ8A31)
8th grandfather was Deacon Edward Putnam, of Salem Witch Trials fame.
Sapa Inca Pachacutec
Very cool!!
Are you also related to DoƱa Francisca Coya? I found out that she possibly may be my 13th great grandmother. Here's her FamilySearch ID: LZNP-5VL
George H. W. Bush was my 6th cousin once removed and his son George W. is my 7th cousin. Regardless of politics, itās pretty cool having two former presidents in your family tree!
I have a slew of colonial presidents in my family, but this seems so much cooler.
Which ones? Iām curious!
9th great grandfather Gov. Jeremiah Clarke (cofounder of Newport, RI), his son Weston Clarke, his daughter Mary Clarke married Gov. John Cranston. And a few more down the line. Jeremiahās (aka Jeremy) wife is Frances Latham (coined āthe mother of Governors). Her father was the falconer for King Charles I.
My husband is also related to George!
One of my 5x great grandpas on my grandmaās side was Dr William Todd. He suspected a smallpox outbreak, and instead of waiting for the green light, he hauled ass and inoculated everyone he could, and taught the Natives how to do it as well. The Blackfoot were not as trusting, and many did not survive. The Cree on the other hand, thrived. āToddās decisive action made him a respected medicine man among the indigenous population. It has even been suggested that he was the most famous doctor in the Canadian North-West at the time.ā Hereās a link about him [https://thestarphoenix.com/opinion/columnists/history-matters-dr-william-todd-met-smallpox-epidemic-with-vaccination-initiative-but-never-officially-credited](https://thestarphoenix.com/opinion/columnists/history-matters-dr-william-todd-met-smallpox-epidemic-with-vaccination-initiative-but-never-officially-credited) And from my grandpaās side, I get my surname from Colin Fraser, who was a personal bagpiper to the HBC Governor, Sir George Simpson. Kinda weird to bring your own personal bagpiper, but rich people are weird, and I aināt knocking it, stringing him along got us here š A set of his bagpipes are in a museum in Edmonton.
Iām glad at least one white guy was trying to protect people. With science and not a bible!
Also kinda neat, his son Donald (my 4th g-grandpa) would go on to marry a MĆ©tis wife Suzanne Durand, the goddaughter to Gabriel Dumont, Louis Rielās military commander right hand man, and MĆ©tis leader. In school I found history so boring, but finding out my own history, I could go down the rabbit hole for days š
Amen!
Zachary Taylor is my 1st cousin 8x removed, and James Madison is my 2nd cousin 9x removed.
Wow - then weāre cousins! Zach Taylor is my 1st cousin 7 x removed and James Madison is my 2nd cousin 7 x removed.
A lot of the early presidents were actually pretty closely related.
One of his sisters was one of my (I donāt know how many greats) grandma on my dadās momās side.
James Madison is my second cousin 8x removed. Thomas Jefferson is my 3rd cousin 8x removed. Iām also a direct descendant of Daniel Booneās eldest sister.
Recently I found out my ancestry lines up perfectly with Chuck Zito, a former leader of Hells Angels. A biker gang that made and distributed illegal drugs, especially methamphetamine. Heās not a direct relative, and heās far more Italian than me, but I believe he is a distant relative. He not only was in Hells Angels, but he is also martial arts expert. He plead guilty to one felony drug count and was sentenced to 10 years, which was ultimately changed to 6. After he got out he got into an acting career and won 3 awards and received 4 nominations. I found him verified on Instagram, and decided to message him, and tell him all about the research I did which led me to this point. Which he simply responded with:0 āššā and thatās it. Recently a movie about him came out this year, and itās a documentary about him. Iām going to watch it soon and see what else I can learn about him. Edit: I also found this out much later (while watching a serial killer documentary) around the time Chuck was in charge, him and other hells angel members would have parties at a pig farmers farm in Canada. This pig farmer is known as āThe Pig Farmerā (Robert Pickton) who actually just passed away not even a month ago.
Thatās really cool. My motherās whole side were Pagans. They were big here on Long Island and my uncles were local tough guys. My family has a pretty cool history in the town I live in, streets named offer them, etc. there was 4 of them originally, all of them my grandmas brothers. Really cool guys but 2 of them did time for murder. Itās really funny I found this comment bc the pagans and hells angels were rival gangs.
Robert Pickton, was actually binge listening to crime junkies yesterday. I always listen to them even if I have already. Lol.
First to come to mind is Christopher Newport who was in command of the ships that carried the future settlers/creators of Jamestown. Saw a lot of combat as a privateer and lost his arm while boarding a Spanish Galleon and is said to have raided the Spanish mainland more times than Sir Francis Drake
Nicolas Perrot (1644-1717) -- he was a French explorer based in Montreal who was one of the first Europeans to set foot in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Someone living, so I won't give their name. But the very cool thing is that they co-wrote a couple of songs from the 60s/70s, and like 3 of the songs he co-wrote are songs I actually really enjoy and have on my phone and listen to a lot. I just found it really funny because who would have thought that someone I'm related to would've co-wrote some of the songs I listen to and enjoy.
One guy got killed by a brick to the head in a drunk brawl with a neighbor. The neighbor fled but was eventually found in southern Illinois and sentenced to all of two years in jail, which was probably a lot in the 1880s.
I have a bunch actually š„° Alexander Kennedy Isbister, a great great uncle, is the one I'm probably the most proud of: https://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/people/isbister_ak.shtml The University of Manitoba still has his scholarship for people to study regardless of race, creed, religion or gender which was started in 1885 š We're also descendants of Sinclair. So like Roslynn Chapel, Templar Knights, Kings of England and vikings and stuff which is pretty cool. My great great grandfather Henry Sinclair allegedly hid the "Holy Grail" in Nova Scotia or something. Some conspiracy theorists believe we even carry the blood line of Jesus š (thanks DaVinci Code) š¤¦āāļø One of my great great grandfathers was James Isbister and he was head of the Scottish Metis and set up Isbister Settlement (now called Prince Albert) for the community. They dedicated a plaque to him in 2022: https://parks.canada.ca/culture/designation/personnage-person/james-isbister There's some other that did some allegedly great stuff; but these are the most interesting imo.
My grandmotherās great aunt was Sarah Winchester, famous for the Winchester Mystery House. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Winchester
My fathers family claimed to be descendants of Pancho Villaš On my momās side, the Mayo brothers, through marriage.
Same, and its something controversial because some Mexicans may have wanted some of your family un-alived if they posed a political threat. Aside from that Pancho was a badass lol My dad idolized him and didnāt know until recently he was our great/ great uncle.
Thatās pretty awesome! I honestly wish I knew more about my father and his family. The cousins who found me wouldnāt tell me much about him. Iām going to buy a MyHeritage kit tomorrow, I want to see who else shows up. Iāve already found an older half-brother on 23/Me. šš½ Letās see what other half sibs my father decided to give me while gallivanting all over the country..lol
My grandmother on my moms side paid someone to do the ancestry thing before the DNA. I guess they have proof that we are related to Ann Boleyn, but she also told me we were Cherokee, and well that was a lie. (We have her grandma being born on the reservation in Oklahoma, but nothing after that.) But I do know that we are related to Ma Barker, and we come from a Clan in Scotland that went to Ireland. My husband is related to George Donner of the Donner party. It was from a child from his first marriage.
Fyi, if youāre Cherokee, it might not show up in your admixture (if itās too diluted). BUT, you can look for your ancestors on the Dawes Rolls. If they are listed, and you can prove, via documentation, your link to said ancestors, you are most likely eligible for tribal membership. Good luck!
Literally none are that interesting that I can find tbh š
Pierre Couchon - A French bishop whose claim to fame is sentencing St. Joan of Arc to death. Heās my 14th great grandfatherās nephew (verified). Heās been portrayed in a lot of movies/plays about Joan of Arc so thatās kind of cool I guess.
Bathesheba Ruggles - the first woman in American history to be executed following the Declaration of Independence in 1778.
My earliest American settler ancestor fled his Danish island after it was destroyed in a hurricane, came to New Sweden, and became a criminal. He sold a pig that wasnāt his, land that wasnāt his, and his wife. The court had some part of his face cut off (nose? Ears? I forget) and he was exiled to New Jersey.
probably my 4th great grandfather. he was a captain of many ships in Hawaiāi and was indigenous hawaiian himself and he was a whaler who would go all the way to alaska and south to australia catching whales
My 4th great grandfather, Traverse Pinn, invented the file folder and actually had a patent for it. He was a free black man in Virginia and even held a few political offices. He was murdered in 1888 at 47. Source: https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/traverse-benjamin-pinn-sr-1840-1888/
Debra Sampson. [https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/diary-sheds-light-deborah-sampson-who-fought-revolutionary-war-180972547/](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/diary-sheds-light-deborah-sampson-who-fought-revolutionary-war-180972547/)
I did a project on her in elementary or middle school lol this just unlocked a memory
[Claudio Arrau](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudio_Arrau) is my first cousin, 4th removed. [Johannes Tauler ](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Tauler) is like a great uncle to the Ć-power. Both men are on my dad's side, which also includes Isabel Allende, and if my math is correct, Pedro Pascal.
Thats so cool.
Daniel Boone and his sister (Hannah Boone) who is my 6x great grandmother from her daughter Sarah Stewart.. Fun fact: my mom's prior co-worker she is good friends with: a direct lineage from Daniel..
Two comments away you have a distant cousin. U/mrspurchase
I descend from his Aunt Mary, sister to Squire Boone. Supposedly, my ancestor James, her son, was friends with Daniel, and they both traveled together.
His parents are buried in my hometown near a Tractor Supply that used to be a Walmart.
Interesting..
My grandmother was born in America. Her parent immigrated from England. Her dad, my GG grandfather died when she was young, I have a pic of my Ggrandfather with the handlebar mustache bigger than a millennial Brooklyn hipster! He as an economist. Family story was that his first wife was mentally ill, so he wasnāt allowed to divorce her due to the laws at the time. My two great aunts, and perhaps my great uncle were born in France, even though they lived in Englandā¦ for some reason? Through ancestry I found a cousin on my G grandmotherās side, and also some relatives of G grandfatherās first wife. According to her, first wife was not mentally illā¦ and I searched mental hospital roles and found nothing. G Grandfather was listed in the census twice: in two homes in the same year.. first wife and her kids, and my G grandmother and her kids! And the census record was written in the same handwriting. From other records we can see that when GGrandfather and ggrandmother came to America in the 19teens or 20s with their three kids. They were listed as married. A few years later, my grandmother was born. A few years after that, first wife died. Shortly after, GGrandfather and GGrandmother got married āfor real.ā My English cousin shared some family photos including a picture of an unknown teenager on the beach in Coney Island in the 1920s. I want to believe that was one of the kids from his first marriage, and that she made it over after her mom died. My grandmother and her siblings are dead now, and my dad doesnāt recall any details. My grandmother was rather stuffy and more judgmental than any of the other old ladies on either side of my family. Itās kind of funny that her parents had the most salacious story of anyoneā¦ or maybe it just seems that way because it took about a hundred years to uncover.
My great grandma and her younger sister were both born in the US after their family immigrated from Wales. All the older siblings, born in Wales, were 5'8" or shorter, but these two women were 6'2" and 6'1". The ongoing joke was that there was something in the water here. My great grandfather was 5'6" and absolutely refused to stand on a crate for photos with her. "Are you saying I'm short?!" Hilariously, her surname means "shorty" in English. We actually have a lot of really tall people in my family, though usually men, so they didn't stand out as much as you'd think. The older siblings were the anomalies, probably due to lack of nutrition during childhood that my great grandma and her younger sister didn't suffer. They were teenagers when they immigrated, or adults who stayed in Wales.
My ancestors came over on the Mayflower but were NOT puritans. The father signed the Mayflower Compact. A few years later he was the first person in the Colonies to get the death penalty. I have no proof but I suspect he was framed.
John Howland is one of my 9th great-grandfathers, is it him?
Hi cousin šš»
Heya!
Well, Iām Jewish. So I donāt really know anything about my family past my great grandparents. What with everyone being murdered and all the records destroyed.
recently found out my 3rd great grandfather worked at thomas edisons lab in west orange, new jersey. pretty cool ig
his obituary: https://edisondigital.rutgers.edu/item/129960#?cv=&c=&m=&s=&xywh=-36%2C-858%2C1270%2C3219
Daniel Boone is my 8x great-grandfather (along with a large swath of E. Kentucky, E. Tennessee, and W. North Carolina).
My 13th great-grandfather Edward Waldegrave was some courtier and knight in England. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London twice for practicing Catholicism and apparently there was a ban or something like that for it. The first time he was imprisoned by King Henry the sixth or eighth, and then a second time by Queen Elizabeth. He died in the tower. Heās the only person I can think of in my family tree right now.
My 3rd cousin is Axl Rose, and we share the same dna because of his mother. I do share a resemblance to him!
Cary Grant
William Brewster, one of the Mayflower passengers, was my 11th Great Grandfather. Also nearly certain to have Thomas Dudley, former governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and member of the first board of overseers at Harvard. Still need to do further research to finally confirm. My lines are all boring doctors and ministers and such. No exciting pirates or witches.
Hi cousin!! William Brewster is also my 11th G-grandfather.
William Henry Harrison
I know my spouseās side better than my own. He is a descendant of Dicey Langston Springfield. She was a Revolutionary War Heroine.
[Jean Baptiste Baudreau II Dit Graveline](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Baptiste_Baudreau_II) was my 7th great grandfather. He was half Native American and was an important liaison between the French colonists and the native people already living in Mississippi and Louisiana. He ran into some trouble with the law and was wrongfully executed via breaking wheel, one of only two (I believe) people executed this way in the US. French officials then threw his body into the Gulf of Mexico. Many of his descendants fought to have a historical marker placed upon his place of death just a year or two ago in New Orleans.
Hanna Mansour is my 3x great-grandfather. He was the first elected mayor of Bethlehem, Palestine from 1896-1907 then again from 1911-1915. Ā You can find out more about him and our family home in Bethlehem where my great-grandmother grew up (Mansour House) here:Ā https://bethlehem.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Bethlehem-Heritage-Route_compressed.pdf
My Great Uncle Harry Ruby wrote some great songs like āI Wanna Be Loved By You,ā and āThree Little Words.ā
I tend to appreciate the people that have given me a chance to learn more about history as I learn about them and the people they lived alongside. My list would include: Philipp Melanchthon - a line descending from his sister intertwines over several generations with families in my Tree. Direct ancestor - probably Heinrich Schwebel. The son of a clergyman involved in the Reformation, while he was Kanzler and an influential advisor in the Duchy of ZweibrĆ¼cken his 'boss' John I, Count Palatine and Duke of Palatinate-ZweibrĆ¼cken, was the first ruler in the world (1592) to mandate compulsory primary education for *both* boys and girls. From what I have learned I like to think Heinrich and his wife Margaretha had a bit to do with that progressive move. Also was fun to learn about: The Patrick family of Traben-Trarbach and Bad Kreuznach because it was so interesting to find Scots there in the 1500s. And a distant 13GG Katharina von Hosingen is on my favourites list as she has a funeral plaque that has survived (with restoration) since her death in 1577. https://www.inschriften.net/rhein-hunsrueck-kreis-ii/inschrift/nr/di079-0101.html Most of the rest of the tree were farmers, teachers, clergy, innkeepers, bakers or brewers.
Philipp Melanchthon married my 11th great aunt, Katharina Krapp. Her father, Hieronymus Krapp (best name I've found in my tree so far), was the Mayor of Wittenburg. Her sister, Anna Barbara Krapp, was married to Augustin Schurff, who was Martin Luther's doctor. Augustin's brother Hieronymus (Jerome) Schurff, was Martin Luther's lawyer. He accompanied Luther to the Diet of Worms. Augustin's daughter Magdalena married the German Renaissance painter Lucas Cranach the Younger, who painted Philipp Melanchthon posthumously, in 1562. His father, Lucas Cranach the Elder, painted Melanchthon in 1543 and Martin Luther a few times. Their daughter, Elisabeth, married Polykarp Leyser the Younger. One of their great grandchildren married a descendant of Martin Luther.
Such an interesting knot of people. It's a fascinating time period to study. I've always thought you could definitely tell what the Cranachs thought about someone's position on the issues of the time by looking at how they depicted the person. The Reformation is full of strong personalities, social justice issues and religious upheaval. I guess things haven't changef that much. As a species we are not very good at transmitting lessons learned down through the generations.
My great grandmother ran off from her husband and went to Alaska during the gold rush and opened a āboarding house ā. The at one point she was a camp cook for when they were putting in the railroad. She would take her dog sled ahead of the workers and make camp where they would be stopping for the night and have camp set up and dinner ready when the workers got there. I have a photo of her somewhere. She was only 4ā11ā and sheās wearing a hat as wide as she is tall.
Boarding house?
Thatās the official cleaned up story.
Iām related to Elvisā¦not closeā¦but not far.
Iām distantly related to Franklin Pierce, considered by scholars as one of the worst presidents in US history, that helped contribute to the start of the Civil War.
My ancestors are the Vikings that ruled the Orkney Islands for a few hundred years. Thereās a saga written about them that I just got and am very excited to read. Another branch are the Normans, which include people like William Longsword, a few knights, some Welsh kings that constantly fought each other (I want to visit the ruins of their castle one day), and the Earls of Sussex. My family lost out on that title because weāre descended through a younger daughter who got married and peaced out to America when Jamestown was first settled. Also Martin Luther. My momās family alas has basically nothing since a lot of Slovakia was wrecked in WW2, so I may have nifty Slavic ancestors I just havenāt figured out yet.
The one I know I'm related to was my Great Grandfather he fought in WW2 and in some of the bloodiest battles against the Japanese Empire The Battle Of GuandalCanal And Solomon Islands I only know this since I found his military card after the war ended and also he married 2 women one that's my great grandma and one that's not mine but I've been able to trace down my Step Great Grandma's ancestry to at late as the 1400s.
One of my ancestors William Harris was the arch enemy of Roger Williams . He even shows up in his journal ! āW. Harris, who, being an impudent morris-dancer in Kent... under a cloak of separation, got in with myself, till his self-ends and restless strife, and at last his atheistical denying of heaven and hell, made honest souls to fly from him. Now he courts the Baptists: then he kicks them off and flatters the Foxians [Quakers]; then the drunkards (which he calls all that are not of the former two amongst us); then knowing the prejudices of the other Colonies against us, he dares to abuse his Majesty and Council, to bring New England upon us.ā
Nothing I love more than bitchy diary entries/letters from the 17th and 18th centuries. Good reminder that while the things people complain about have changed, as a people we haven't changed *all* that much.
One of my wife's ancestors was John Throckmorton, a friend with whom Williams fell out. Williams seems to have been a bit of an asshole in reality.
Both Harris and Throckmorton were among the thirteen original proprietors of Rhode Island.
My 9th great grandfather was Gov. Jeremiah Clarke, a colonial era president of Rhode Island (and the Providence Plantations) and cofounder of Newport. I wonder if they knew each other.
There is the founder of a religious sect where I come from. Persian royals. Maybe Nestor (of Trojan war fame). Cheddar man and Otzi the iceman.
Welp. 12 of the 19 people hung in Salem are grandparents and 1st cousins. King Robert the Bruce, my grandfather, over 20 times. A few other ancient Scottish royals and my grandfather William. He wasnāt famous. He was just a great guy. Ancestry stuff is so fun!
Bach.
Honora Mary OāFlynn, 1600ās Irish chieftainās daughter, so she was basically a princess. Kidnapped as a teen or possibly spoils of war and brought to Baltimore, Maryland. Sold to a tobacco farmer who she eventually married.
Rodrigo de Bastidas. Pretty interesting since he died from his men killing him due to his excessive greed and unfairness, which is surprisingly still an attribute of a lot of my family members on that side: greed.
For the moment, it's a close tie between Louis Poulin and Sieur Philippe Muis-D'Entremont. They aren't related but they sure are giving me some headaches. Louis Poulin was a popular name when he lived, there are 20 of them in the territory I'm looking at in a 40 year span. The lack of records is infuriating. And Philippe is probably not of noble blood and doesn't have the lineage that is commonly know, but I need more people in France to test to be certain of anything.
My wife has one of those Maritime families that can trace their line back to the Mayflower, which sheās very proud of. That means i can remind her sheās a relative of this guy. https://www.executedtoday.com/2009/10/18/1672-thomas-rood-incest-execution-america/ I hasten to add sheās a descendent of old Tomās other kids, but still - a little too close for comfort.
My 12th great grandfather Edward Doty, the Mayflower menace. There are loads of us Doty descendants on Reddit.
My ancestor help fund Christopher Columbus to the americas
Probably my melungeon 5th great grandfather that married my white 5th great grandmother and poisoned her. His sister was actually the one that got him caught. He was placed in jail, 200 people stormed the jail and drug him out, and hung him on an oak tree. Apparently he was very attractive with darker skin and green eyes and slept with multiple married women. He offered his sister $10 to poison his wife but she refused, so he did it and his sister ratted him out.
My great grandpa was kidnapped during the Mexican revolution. Eventually he had to walk from Baja California back home to southeast Mexico with nothing but the clothes on his back. He had to survive walking through the desert for months with no map. Quicksand, snakes, animals, dehydration, hypo/hyperthermia. His buddy that he journeyed with died before they could make it. Pretty interesting dude given the horrible circumstances. Itās crazy to think if he hadnāt made it, my siblings and I would not exist.
A great great grandpa of mine was also a soldier during the French-Mexican war! AKA Cinco De Mayo. I donāt have many details for that though.
I have William Bradford, Richard Warren, and Roger Williams on ny dad's side, but one if the most fascinating people is Thomas Cresap on my mom's side, and most people don't know him. Thomas Cresap had a war named after him, and is the reason Maryland and Pennsylvania's border is where it is (Mason and Dixon surveyed it after the incident). Was he a good man? Absolutely Not. But his life is super fascinating. He was friends with George Wasgington, but they had a falling out later in life. He was important in both the French and Indian War, and the American Revolution, but for some reason, he's been forgotten (though again, he was not a nice person). His wife was fascinating too.
My grandpa was involved in politics in south Texas. LBJ went to their house a few times, and he was like a small town godfather. When he splintered from the big political boss and took guys with him, he was whacked.
As a Texan I now really want to hear this whole story!
Thomas Hardy through marriage. My paternal granddadās maternal granddad was 2nd cousins with Hardyās second wife Florence Dugdale
Bonnie Parker is my 2nd cousin twice removed. Also, Elvis Presley is like a 9th cousin 3 times removed or something like that.
My great great grandfather was Charles Bluejacket, chief of the Shawnee tribe. He descended from the last of the Shawnee war chiefs.
My great great great great great grandparents were a frontiersman named [William Whitley](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Whitley) and his wife [Esther Whitley.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esther_Whitley) He is the reason why horse racing is so big in Kentucky. Heās also the reason why in America, horses race counter clockwise and on clay/dirt. He was the son of Scottish immigrants from Ireland, so he despised the British and didnāt want his horses running clockwise or on turf like the English do. His wife was also a sharpshooter, and the 3rd woman of European descent to cross the Cumberland Mountains. They were good friends with Daniel Boone and George Rodgers Clark, both of whom stayed at their house often. Their house was also the first brick house in Kentucky and one of the first brick houses past the Appalachians. He also had a horse racing track there, called Sportsmanās Hill, that was the first horse racing track west of the Appalachian Mountains. Itās a state park now, so anyone can visit their land, house, and racing track now. However they werenāt perfect, he hated Native Americans and is one of the people who possibly killed [Tecumseh](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tecumseh) during the War of 1812. He died during the same war, at the [Battle of the Thames](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Thames) [William Whitley House State Historic Site](https://stateparks.com/william_whitley_house_state_historic_site_in_kentucky.html) Hereās another interesting [article](https://www.wkyt.com/content/news/How-a-200-year-old-house-birthed-horseracing-in-the-Bluegrass-509443151.html) about their house and its importance to horse racing.
Found out that Iām related to medici family
Henry James Metcalfe. My 3rd great grandfather. He was a bandmaster, composer and publisher of music for Brass band. He served in Ireland in a Depot Battalion of the 3rd Regiment of Foot, and was the bandmaster of its Bugle, Fife and Drum band. After he left the army he founded a brass band and began writing music for it. Around 1878 he published a house journal called 'Metcalfe's Musical Express' He claimed to have been the first composer of dance music for brass bands, like quadrilles and waltzes!
Sir John De Graham aka William Wallace his Right hand man, Saved him multiple times, hes my Great Great Great Great and so on Grandfather, confirmed Ancestor
I think I have a distant relative called George Hector who was known as the Whistling Banjoman in New Brunswick, Canada
Two brothers of my great grandma were āpartisanā fighters in Lithuaniaās guerrilla war against the Soviet Union after occupation of the country in the 1940s. The partisans hoped that by guerrilla tactics theyād be able to drive the USSR out of Lithuania eventually, despite limited international support and their small numbers relative to the Soviet Army. That never happened of course, but I just find it unique and inspiring that some of my ancestors were involved in this effort.
My great grandfather lead a kamikaze attack that sank the USS Lexington in WW2, and then he perished out at sea as he was aiding other planes that were lost but ran out of fuel himself along the return flight
George Washington and I share the same grandfather. Well, his grandfather and my 11x great grandfather. Then there is a direct line to the Queen Mother, through her father, Claude Bowes-Lyon, on my maternal side. My fraternal side, my 3x great grandmother's brother is Cullen Montgomery Baker, a serial killer after the civil war and Louis L'Amour based his main character on Baker in his book The First Fast Draw. Ā My great Uncle (grandmother's brother) has a Marine Training Center named for him and he was a hero in the battle of Iwo Jima.
My 3rd cousin 4x removed was Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin. He invented the Zeppelin airship. [Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin ](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_von_Zeppelin ) I've figured out my relationship to the European royal families, but he's my closest relative that people would have heard of. I'm also related to the Red Baron. And I'm afraid of heights.
I have three..John and Joan Carrington, hanged for being witches in Hartford Connecticut, before Salem witch trials ever started. Then Captain Benjamin Merrill, regulator, first person executed by the British just before the Revolutionary war . Being a historian and DNA researcher has been very interesting.
None of mine are Inrreting bc half my family never really left England and the other half of my family are Romani so itās hard to find any documents or birth certificate of them
Zawisza the Black, most famous polish knight. Not confirmed but my great grandma wore both his surname and coat of arms.
Martha Washington & George Washington
Mr Rogers is my 4th cousin on my dads side!
Martha Washington
I have two interesting ancestors who stuck out to me. Matthew Henson is my ancestor. He was an American Explorer. He's known for being a Black American who may have made it to the North Pole. I know for a fact that I am related to him. My grandmother would tell me about him. We also see some Henson at family reunions. My other interesting ancestor is Josiah Henson. He was known for being an author, preacher, and abolitionist. Some people might know of Uncle Tom. Well, that's what he was labeled as... If you are interested in more information about my ancestors, we have their stories exhibited at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum in Baltimore, MD. You should stop by if you are interested in Baltimore History of ADOS. It's a really nice museum.
Really just my grandpa and great-grandfather. My grandfather played professional baseball, fought in the Korean War and did a few other things as well. My great-grandfather played in the MLB and also played against Babe Ruth, and also has the record for being I believe the only baseball player to be born in the 19th century, live through the 20th, and die in the 21st century š Thomas Vergne Swanson - Grandpa Karl Edward Swanson - Great-Grandfather :D
My 6th great-grandfather was Joseph Broussard dit Beausoleil, an Acadian folk hero and militiaman that fought against the British during the Seven Years War/French-Indian War, and then later led the first large wave of Acadian/Cajun migration to southwest Louisiana. Tho, tbf, A LOT of people in southwest Louisiana/southeast Texas also descend from him, so I'm not really unique in this regard, but still pretty cool, imo. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph\_Broussard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Broussard)
I found out Beyonceās niece is a distant cousin of mine from my matches. A few ppl with last names from Beyonceās maternal side showed up as 4th cousins. Thought it was a little crazy š
35th great grandfather is Rollo, the first Duke of Normandy, if I researched my tree well enough. I'm always skeptical when I'm able to get back so far.
Iām related to six of histories most influential people. Yes documented. Proven. Took a decade of research etc my mom and aunt have been doing since getting our results. We went back on my Momās side, one line. I think Anne Boleyn is probably the most interesting of mine. ( not a direct descendent but related - royalty was really incestuous) But the one story Iām pretty proud of is .. one of my direct ancestors - was a Queen and her husband was out fighting some warā¦ and their country was attacked, probably from them thinking they were weak with the king gone- So she had them make her a suit of armor at 7 months pregnant and gathered up her armies and went into battle. She won. She brought back the enemy kingās head and gave it to her husband/ king. ( it did happen according to our research although there is some debate about this. The suit of armor did happen. She did go. We just donāt know if she actually ever stepped foot on the battlefield )
I have so many I can't pick one. My closest is my ggf. A TV series was made on him. I have no clue how many wives and kids he had. I met a 'cousin' once. My gf, his last child, was an only with his much much younger wife. š¤·š¼āāļø
My great great grandfatherās second cousin was a Mexican president, so I think thatās pretty interesting. As for a direct ancestor, my great great grandfather was also a Mexican revolutionary and led a regiment or something along those lines, then he went on to own a grocery store in Texas
Richard j mecredy. My great x2 grandparent and the inventor of cycle polo
Former ufc fighter and k1 champion Mark Hunt is a possible distant cousin of mine as I have a lot of matches of people who are part of his family(all bearing the last name Hunt)
- My grandma told me her father worked with Pancho Villa during the war in Jalisco. - Iām a descendent of Hernan Cortes. š¬ - the person who created colored tv is my 10th cousin , one removed . According to FamilyTree.com
I uploaded my results to a few databases from ancient burials. It was the dna match with the only known remaining bone in America from the Clovis people that I found most interesting. I grew up believing I was Irish Italian with some Romani Gypsy. My dna results pretty much matched up with nearly every major ethnicity on the planet. So I guess most recently on one side Iām Gypsy and on the other it was German/scottish/English descended from Vikings.
My great x something grandfather has a university named after him(his estate donated 25k to the school when he died), founded a polytechnic institute, and was a co-proprietor of the worldās largest wire mill company. He lived from 1798-1868. It took so much digging to find this out because thereās been multiple closed adoptions throughout my recent lineage and getting the original birth certificates/people to talk is not easy.
I'm actually related to these people Dick Turpin https://www.sworder.co.uk/auction/details/a1131-dick-turpin--the-legend-lives-on/?au=1147&pn=3&g=1 Rita Webb https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rita_Webb It says Lionel Stanley Thompson, they married other people, but legally divorced. She's my 4x great Nanny (Emma - also related to Martha & Thomas) https://archive.lib.msu.edu/AFS/dmc/ssb/public/all/springfieldcottage/scot.html This post is mainly for UK people or anyone interested. One more we built things. As my Mum says, we built psychiatric hospitals & put our own in them
I have a bunch of them but this oneās my favorite: A Canadian 9th great grandmother, Marie Francoise Du Verger, born in 1636, was a ādaughter of the kingā, and incidentally a muderess. It was a long story, but there was no official executioner appointed in Quebec at that time, so she and her partner in crime āwere found guilty, keel-hauled on a ship in Quebec harbor, and their quartered bodies thrown in the river". The next guy to be executed was asked if he would prefer to be the official executioner and he agreed
Jabez Faux, my first cousin four times removed. Converted to Mormonism in the 1850s, left Yorkshire and travelled to Utah as part of the Ninth Handcart Company.
James Madison (heās the nephew of my ancestor if I remember correctly)
Don't really have any. I guess if I was pressed, the guy who fought at Chickamauga.
-My direct ancestor x11 grandpa was Richard Warren (mayflower passenger/signer of the mayflower compact) -John black my x10 great grandpa fought for the continental army in the revolutionary war -Joseph Martin brigadier general in the continental army is my 1st cousin x9 removed -Benjamin and William Harrison (both presidents) Iām cousins through - William Anne Holles Capell is my x8 great grandpa and the 4th earl of Essex
I'm descended from Richard Warren too. PT Barnum was my 2nd cousin twice removed. That's the best I can do.
Hiya Cousin lol and thatās awesome!
Some Frenchman who lived in Haiti allegedly but when the revolution happened, fled to Puerto Rico. There's a bunch of ppl with our last name there. He or a relative traveled to the Gulf Coast and here I am. My research into him led me to find a network of people of color manumitting slaves themselves and promising them training in the trades. Fascinating to me.
John Howland, signer of the Mayflower Compact, is my 9th great-grandfather.
You and my cousin are related. My cousin has 2 Mayflower ancestors, while I only have one, Mr Brewster.
I normally brush off the StoryScout, but when it had him, I wanted to see if I could trace him, and sure enough, I was. He's just a grandfather of a grandmother of a grandfather and so-forth, but it's still pretty cool.
My 8th great grandfather is Thomas Bowes II...who is also the 8th great grandfather of King Charles.
Iām a direct descendent of Sir Hugh Underhill, Keeper of the Wardrobe for Queen Elizabeth I
Edward Maria Wingfield, the 1st president of the Jamestown Colony, is my 12th great Uncle. He evidently wasnāt well-liked by the other colonists and was sent back to England on trumped up charges of Atheism.
William de Mohun... He came over to England in 1066 with William the Conqueror. He was one of William the Conquerors Chief generals and was deeded lands out in Devon. Part of the original Castle still remains. During Civil Wars one of his descendants saved Taunton from being overrun by the Royalists and held on through a nine month Siege until Thos Cranmer could together enough spares to send a battalion or whatever down there to kick back the Royalists.
Garner state park(central tx) is named after my momās maiden name side, who settled Texas originally, (for yt ppl) my great (great) grandad (grandads grandad?) fought with Davy Crockett at the Alamo, had grown up with their family in Tennessee before the migration to Texas - apparently they were so close after he died (KIA@the Alamo) he named his son- my grandads dad- James Crockett Garner. Also there is some confusion as to how a particular table came to be in our family- my grandfathers oldest brother was general pattons driver in France, when they got into the car accident that resulted in him dying. Directly after the car accident my great uncle took gen Patton to his mistresses home, where she performed surgery on his broken leg, ultimately causing a blood clot which killed him. š We still have that table she did the surgery on. Itās a Louis the 18th table and most of the kids ate breakfast on it for YEARS. I have no idea at what point it changed hands and got brought to the states but itās been here as long as Iāve been around. (Damn near 40 years)
mothers side, my great great uncle was an MP who died in WWII, dads side my grandmas cousin is the current president of st kitts and nevis. on top of that im also related to mel b from the spice girls :)
Not mine and not a direct ancestor, but my wife's 3rd great grandfather's brother was, for a time during and after reconstruction, the most hated man in southern Missouri.
William Vassall
Anthony Dix (or Dike, as it's been passed down in my family), a passenger named on the "Anne," which came to the Plymouth Colony three years after the Mayflower. He was the captain of the second ocean-going, non-fishing vessel built in what became the US, the "Blessing of the Bay." At one point he was captured by a pirate called Dixie Bull and managed to escape. He died a few years later after the ship went down in a storm off of Cape Cod. Of course, when your relationship to someone is through the male line, going back several centuries, you never can be truly sure they're actually your ancestor. š
Thomas Telford the engineer.
Lady Godiva
Possible descendant of Angus Macaskill the super gaint from Scotland. A lot of relatives claim we are related to him btw my grandma's maiden name.
This one guy was the head of the first families to settle the Canary Islands in the 1500s.
One of my great-grandfathers was a rum runner during Prohibition.
Robert the Bruce
Abraham Lincoln. He's supposed to be my 3rd cousin, seven times removed. Also, Marilyn Monroe, 9th cousin, once removed.
My 2nd cousin 5 times removed is the famous American Outlaw, Jesse James. Itās so interesting finding out about him and his life.
I have a broken tree branch so possible they arenāt a direct relative but my last name picks up in Colonial America with some known counterfeiters. They are small characters listed in a gang called the Dover Money Club. My last name is fairly unique and wonder if this persons professional ambitions is a root cause of the gap in my tree -also not super famous in the big world but in central Florida History, I am related to Sherif David Mizell who was murdered in some kind of Cattle/ land Dispute. His house sits on a park here in central Florida and you can visit it while touring the gardens. He is my 1st cousin 5 times removed so we were never close lol.
My 11x great grandfather is William Pynchon the founder of Springfield Massachusetts and his son in law my 10x great grandfather was Elizur Holyoke who climbed and named Mt Holyoke outside of Springfield
**Pierre Dugua de Mons**. First Governor of French Arcadia. Was My 11th Great Grandfather.
Rebecca Nurse
William Marshall.... The greatest knight in history